Plus two new mid-rangers. But sadly no sign of a new compact phone.

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Sony's new flagship phone: the Xperia 1. Its 6.5-inch, 21:9 display is very tall.

Jeff Dunn

Here it is in glossy, fingerprint-attracting black.

Jeff Dunn

Just for fun, here's the Xperia 1 next to the diminutive iPhone SE.

Jeff Dunn

It will also be available in this deep purple color. As a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, I am on board.

There's a trio of 12-megapixel cameras on the back: a 26mm wide lens, a 52mm telephoto lens, and a 16mm ultra-wide lens.

It's not bezel-less, but what's there is minimal, and there's no notch in sight.

The whole package is lighter than it might look. It measures 8.2mm, which makes it a bit thicker than the comparable iPhone XS Max and Samsung Galaxy S10+.

Jeff Dunn

Yep, the headphone jack is still dead.

Jeff Dunn

It's boxy and very shiny in the light.

Jeff Dunn

Not to be outdone by Huawei, Nokia, Xiaomi, LG, and just about every other phone maker not named Apple or Samsung, Sony is using this week’s Mobile World Congress to introduce its latest smartphones for 2019.

Sales of the Japanese tech firm’s smartphones have been in a free fall for the past few years, but the company is hoping to reverse its fortunes with a new top-end model (the Xperia 1) and two new mid-rangers (the Xperias 10 and 10 Plus). I was able to get some brief hands-on time with the three new devices at an event in Manhattan earlier this month.

Here’s a rundown of what to expect.

Sony Xperia 1

The first thing to note about the new Xperias is the name: Sony is dropping the “XZ” nomenclature from its higher-profile handsets in favor of a more straightforward numerical system (though the “1” phone being more powerful than the “10” phones may still cause some confusion.) The Xperia 1 here takes over the flagship mantle from last year’s Xperia XZ3.

Sony’s big focus with the Xperia 1 is entertainment and content creation. The handset comes with a 6.5-inch 3840x1644 OLED display that supports HDR10. If that resolution looks strange, it’s because the Xperia 1’s display uses a 21:9 aspect ratio. Sony pitches this as a more "luxurious" format for watching movies, multitasking, and playing games.

It also makes the phone unusually tall—almost 8mm taller than Apple’s iPhone XS Max or Samsung’s new Galaxy S10 Plus. The device will be tougher to slide into a pants pocket than most phones and nigh-impossible for most people to use effectively with one hand.

Further Reading

Along with the typical contrast boost that comes with an OLED display, Sony is touting a number of color reproduction and accuracy enhancements such as 10-bit color (technically, 8-bit with dithering) and support for the more expansive Rec. 2020 color space. There’s a “Creator” mode that puts all of that to work to more faithfully reproduce content that takes advantage of it, as well as support for virtual surround sound through Dolby Atmos.

To be clear, these kind of A/V improvements are naturally more useful on a TV or monitor than a smartphone. Atmos support can be nice with a good pair of headphones, but true “surround sound” is impossible on such tiny speakers. Sony says it's working with games like Fortnite to support the 21:9 ratio, and apps like Netflix and YouTube do support widescreen with select content, but most of the things people typically watch on their mobile devices do not. (In other words, expect some letterboxing.) The major US carriers don’t currently allow 4K streaming on their “unlimited” data plans. And the ultra-high resolution screen will likely cause a dip in battery life.

Still, the previous flagship XZ3’s display was very good, and the company’s Bravia OLED TVs are top of the line, so there’s reason to think this panel could impress. The baseline for flagship phone displays is already pretty high these days, but Sony is hoping that there’s still room to appeal to display geeks.

Beyond that, the Xperia 1 comes with a trio of 12-megapixel cameras: a 26mm wide lens with an f/1.6 aperture, a 52mm telephoto lens, and a 16mm ultra-wide lens. The wide and telephoto lenses support optical image stabilization. Sony is touting improved autofocus, up to 10fps burst shooting, a new RAW noise reduction algorithm, and a number of granular editing tools. A "Cinema Pro" mode lets it shoot 4K HDR video at a more movie-like 24fps, while an ultra-slow motion mode lets it capture short clips at up to 960fps at 1080p. It all sounds promising, but the Xperia line has a history of underwhelming cameras. It’s always been a bit puzzling, given that Sony supplies image sensors for iPhones and that its Alpha line of dedicated cameras are widely praised.

The rest of the specs are about what you’d expect from a flagship phone in 2019: a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of expandable storage, IP65/68 water resistance, Bluetooth 5, and Android 9 Pie out of the box. There’s support for Hi-Res audio, including Sony’s own LDAC Bluetooth codec and aptX HD, which brings sharper sound if you're the type who pays for such quality. The battery measures at 3,300 mAh. Sony didn’t mention any major changes to its Android implementation; if the XZ3 is any indication, its customizations should be minimal and Sony should be relatively quick to issue updates. (“Relatively” being the extremely operative word there.)

I was only able to use the Xperia 1 for a few minutes, and at my briefing, Sony did not let journalists get past the device's lock screen. Still, based on that time, I can say that the hardware here feels sufficiently light (180g) and thin (8.2mm), though it's clearly thicker than the XS Max or Galaxy S10+. The rounded sides make it easy enough to hold; again, it's just that height that could make it unwieldy. It has an all-glass finish, which means the usual caveats: it’s glossy, slippery, and a massive fingerprint magnet. In this case, there's no wireless charging, either. There are bezels, but they’re slim, and there’s no notch to contend with. There’s also no headphone jack, which sucks. Sony hasn’t jumped on the in-display fingerprint reader train, either, instead opting for its usual side-mounted scanner, though I don’t consider that a huge loss given the technical issues that still hamper the former. The tiny power button's placement underneath that scanner might take some getting used to, though.

The Xperia 1 will come in black or purple in the US. Sony hasn’t yet announced any specific carrier partners, but the phone will likely work on AT&T and T-Mobile. Sony is only saying the device will launch in “late Spring” and hasn’t announced a price just yet. A prior leak suggested it could go for around $1,100. That would be a lot.

Sony Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus

The Sony Xperia 10.

Jeff Dunn

And the Sony Xperia 10 Plus.

Jeff Dunn

Each trades glass for a smooth aluminum, which feels less "premium" but makes the phones feel light for their size and keeps them from showing fingerprints as easily.

Jeff Dunn

A size comparison: the Xperia 10 Plus on the left, the Xperia 10 on the right. Despite its 21:9 aspect ratio, the Xperia 10 is still relatively manageable in one hand.

Jeff Dunn

One trade-off here is that you only get a single speaker instead of the stereo speakers on the Xperia 1.

Jeff Dunn

There's a headphone jack on the mid-range phones, but not the pricier Xperia 1.

Jeff Dunn

It seems safe to say USB-C is fully ubiquitous on new phones now.

Jeff Dunn

Again, headphone jacks!

Jeff Dunn

Here's the side-mounted fingerprint reader.

Jeff Dunn

The physical dimensions of these mid-range phones are very similar to those of the Xperia 10.

Jeff Dunn

Sony’s two new mid-range phones, the Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus, will likely have broader appeal than the flagship Xperia 1.

These two devices are also equipped with 21:9 displays, though the Xperia 10 measures in at a more manageable 156mm tall; the Xperia 10 Plus, at 167mm, is roughly the same size as the Xperia 1. The 4K OLED panels are swapped out for 1080p and LCD on both, with the Xperia 10 at six inches and Xperia 10 Plus at 6.5 inches. They also use Gorilla Glass 5, while the Xperia 1 uses the more drop-resistant Gorilla Glass 6.

The triple cameras are replaced by dual-lens units: 13- and 5-megapixel cameras on the Xperia 10, 12- and 8-megapixel cameras on the Xperia 10 Plus. Sony says both are capable of recording 4K video.

Both come with side-mounted fingerprint scanners and headphone jacks as well as Android 9 Pie. The Hi-Res audio and LDAC support of the Xperia 1 makes its way down, too, which could make these fairly decent devices for audio enthusiasts on a budget. They only have single speakers, though, not the stereo pair of the Xperia 1. The Xperia 10 comes with a 2,870 mAh battery, while the Xperia 10 Plus has a 3,000 mAh pack.

Further Reading

One potential area for disappointment is processing power. While the Xperia 10 Plus uses a Snapdragon 636 chip, the Xperia 10 runs on a Snapdragon 630, which is well over a year old at this point. The Xperia 10 has 3GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage; the Xperia 10 Plus comes with 4GB of RAM.

Both mid-rangers lose the glass back of the Xperia 1, but they feel lighter—particularly the Xperia 10, at 162g—and less slippery for it. There’s no notch on either, but the bezels are uneven: the bottom is thin, while the “forehead” is a more standard size on both.

Both devices will hit the US on March 18. The Xperia 10 will cost $350, while the Xperia 10 Plus will cost $430. They’ll face stiff competition from Motorola’s new Moto G phones and our current budget phone of choice, the Nokia 6.1—which also carries a Snapdragon 630 for $100 less—but there are things to like here. Sony says these two phones will work on Verizon in addition to the usual GSM networks like AT&T and T-Mobile.

A long road ahead

One thing that wasn’t announced: a new Xperia Compact phone. Sony hasn’t explicitly killed one of the last remaining “small phone” lines, but its execs have suggested it may be on ice for the time being.

It’s safe to say Sony’s mobile business is in a bad way. The company’s phone sales have been plummeting for years, with lower and lower forecasts arriving on a near-quarterly basis. It shipped just 1.8 million phones over the course of its most recent quarter. It’s never had the carrier relationships to gain a foothold in the US, and rising Chinese OEMs like Xiaomi and Oppo have eaten its market elsewhere. The company as a whole is alive and well, bolstered primarily by its PlayStation and other entertainment businesses, but its mobile situation has been locked in a spiral—as sales sink, so do component orders, which raises manufacturing costs, which raises retail prices, which sinks sales, and so on.

Are the Xperia 1 and Xperia 10 the kind of phones to turn this around? At least to me, it doesn’t seem so right now. They aren’t likely to beat anyone on price, and in the Xperia 1’s case, existing phones from Samsung, Apple, and Huawei don’t seem to have engendered major complaints regarding display and camera quality. None of this means any of the phones here will be bad—they could be a treat for watching movies on the go, and we’d need more time to make any judgments regardless.

Can't we just get the XZ1 compact with updated hardware? I need a mobile phone that can be used with one hand for more than 3 seconds. When I decide that I need a stick I'll get a stick not an ultra tall phone.

Also, do people really spend that much time watching video on their phones? I think I've done it for grand total of 30 min during the last decade.

Has anyone said I wish my phone had a higher aspect ratio? Anyone? Is this just spemanship becuse phone screens are measured on the diagonal so you can make the screen number larger without going wider by making it taller.

Also no Android One = no sale. I mean honestly the terms of Android One really aren't that great they are the minimum acceptable product. Saying you aren't going with Android One means you are selling $800+ throwaway phones.

Both come with side-mounted fingerprint scanners and headphone jacks, as well as Android 9 Pie. The Hi-Res audio and LDAC support of the Xperia 1 makes its way down, too, which could make these fairly decent devices for audio enthusiasts on a budget.

Sony "donated" LDAC codec support to Android as part of Android O. As far as I know this only works with their higher-end headphones (which I fully recommend regardless.)

It does feel a little strange for Sony of all companies to remove the headphone jack on their flagship, but I guess if there's anyone with a strong Bluetooth portfolio to back it, it's Sony.

I'd expect these to do well in Japan and not so well elsewhere, like normal.

Has anyone said I wish my phone had a higher aspect ratio? Anyone? Is this just spemanship becuse phone screens are measured on the diagonal you can make the screen number larger without going wider by increasing the height of the phone.

Also no Android One = no sale. I mean honestly the terms of Android One really aren't that great they are the minimum acceptable product. Saying you aren't going with Android One means you are selling $800+ throwaway phones.

At least for men (meaning reasonable pocket sizes), I see a lot of people wanting to keep phones in their front pockets. If a phone is too wide it'll stick out (literally), so increasing the vertical size is more or less the only way left to get a bigger phone for those people.

Has anyone said I wish my phone had a higher aspect ratio? Anyone? Is this just spemanship becuse phone screens are measured on the diagonal you can make the screen number larger without going wider by increasing the height of the phone.

Also no Android One = no sale. I mean honestly the terms of Android One really aren't that great they are the minimum acceptable product. Saying you aren't going with Android One means you are selling $800+ throwaway phones.

At least for men (meaning reasonable pocket sizes), I see a lot of people wanting to keep phones in their front pockets. If a phone is too wide it'll stick out (literally), so increasing the vertical size is more or less the only way left to get a bigger phone for those people.

Has anyone said I wish my phone had a higher aspect ratio? Anyone? Is this just spemanship becuse phone screens are measured on the diagonal so you can make the screen number larger without going wider by making it taller.

Also no Android One = no sale. I mean honestly the terms of Android One really aren't that great they are the minimum acceptable product. Saying you aren't going with Android One means you are selling $800+ throwaway phones.

Modern phones are taller than the older ones. This is easily their most distinctive feature. Sony seems to want to capitalize on this by making their phone even taller than the rest.

Can't we just get the XZ1 compact with updated hardware? I need a mobile phone that can be used with one hand for more than 3 seconds. When I decide that I need a stick I'll get a stick not an ultra tall phone.

Also, do people really spend that much time watching video on their phones? I think I've done it for grand total of 30 min during the last decade.

Agreed. I have the XZ1 Compact now, and had the Z5 Compact before that. It seems those of us who want a smaller phone are fighting a losing battle. Perhaps if Sony focused on the compact phones, which so far they've built pretty well, they could really differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack.

As someone that's still using a 4+ year old oneplus one I always wonder when I'll be able to replace it and get something that's "as fast" or faster without paying the ridiculous prices phones are reaching. I honestly even would consider the $500+ that oneplus now wants to be more than I want to pay to replace something that, aside from software updates, is already good enough. I'm pretty sure the Nokia 6.1 is likely slower, not sure about the 7.1 or the moto G phones.

Is there someplace where you can actually find that kind of historic comparison between generations, snapdragon 801 compared to 845, 600 series, etc?

Has anyone said I wish my phone had a higher aspect ratio? Anyone? Is this just spemanship becuse phone screens are measured on the diagonal you can make the screen number larger without going wider by increasing the height of the phone.

Also no Android One = no sale. I mean honestly the terms of Android One really aren't that great they are the minimum acceptable product. Saying you aren't going with Android One means you are selling $800+ throwaway phones.

At least for men (meaning reasonable pocket sizes), I see a lot of people wanting to keep phones in their front pockets. If a phone is too wide it'll stick out (literally), so increasing the vertical size is more or less the only way left to get a bigger phone for those people.

My Note9 is already well into the territory of "unwieldy" in a lot of ways....it's a great media device but if I'm being honest it's a pretty garbage "cell phone". Sadly I'm a sucker for gadgets instead of functionality so I bought it anyways.....

Can't we just get the XZ1 compact with updated hardware? I need a mobile phone that can be used with one hand for more than 3 seconds. When I decide that I need a stick I'll get a stick not an ultra tall phone.

Also, do people really spend that much time watching video on their phones? I think I've done it for grand total of 30 min during the last decade.

Not the XZ1, the case design is awful and it's a repair nightmare. The Z5 compact with a bit of extra thickness would do admirably.

It's a problem for me. I want a small phone. No I do not want a remaindered iPhone SE. I want a decent CPU, waterproofing, accurate compass and barometer. Sony provided those, but no longer. Their sales are steadily falling. Their one excellent stand out product range that they failed to advertise is now dead.

When my present city car wears out I want a Smart Brabus*, not an SUV. I want someone to make a Smart Brabus phone, is that really too much to ask?

When it says 128 GB of expandable storage for the Xperia 1 vs. 64 GB for the 10 and 10 Plus, are those limits actually imposed by the device? Or will they actually support any sized MicroSD card?

Edit: Maybe I misunderstood what Ron wrote about "128 GB expandable storage" for the Xperia 1 vs. "64 GB expandable storage" for the 10/10 Plus. Is that meant to say "128 GB internal storage" for the Xperia 1 and "64 GB internal storage" for the 10/10 Plus, plus all three will support MicroSD?

I'm surprised Sony hasn't packed it's phone business in yet, how much money do they have to lose before they say enough is enough.

Even many Chinese firms are struggling in the mobile space like Lenovo/Motorola, ZTE and TCL/Alcatel/Palm/Blackberry (hmm maybe TCL will buy Sony's phone business they bought all the other failed ones).

Can't we just get the XZ1 compact with updated hardware? I need a mobile phone that can be used with one hand for more than 3 seconds. When I decide that I need a stick I'll get a stick not an ultra tall phone.

Also, do people really spend that much time watching video on their phones? I think I've done it for grand total of 30 min during the last decade.

Agreed. I have the XZ1 Compact now, and had the Z5 Compact before that. It seems those of us who want a smaller phone are fighting a losing battle. Perhaps if Sony focused on the compact phones, which so far they've built pretty well, they could really differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack.

I have the XZ1 Compact too. A smaller phone isn't just more convenient to pocket or use one-handed, the small screen size is less likely to break, and uses less power so the battery lasts longer. It's weird how phones seem to get worse and worse. I've lost removable batteries, FM radio, some don't even have headphone sockets.

Also no Android One = no sale. I mean honestly the terms of Android One really aren't that great they are the minimum acceptable product. Saying you aren't going with Android One means you are selling $800+ throwaway phones.

Lacking Android One is pretty far down on the list of problems with this phone. Sony's phones are already pretty close to stock Android and they have a good track record on both how fast they deliver updates as well as how long they keep delivering updates for.

This sentiment has been gradually getting stronger for me - and, doubtless, countless other Arsians - for the last several years. Even budget (and some midrange) phones, which have been a refuge of sorts, have become just as crazy as of the 2019 announcements so far.

I thought I had left behind feature phones when I got my first smartphone in 2012, but it seems that whenever my current phone's battery goes belly up, my best option is an LTE feature phone (ideally with a hotspot feature - which I believe phones like the LG Exalt LTE offer - so I can keep using some kind of mobile computer online).

I'm surprised Sony hasn't packed it's phone business in yet, how much money do they have to lose before they say enough is enough.

Even many Chinese firms are struggling in the mobile space like Lenovo/Motorola, ZTE and TCL/Alcatel/Palm/Blackberry (hmm maybe TCL will buy Sony's phone business they bought all the other failed ones).

I'm not.Other divisions of Sony make cameras and audio parts that are sold to other manufacturers.

Think about the problem of R&D. To test new parts thoroughly you need phones to tune them on which need to be state of the art. Samsung does...If you work with one manufacturer, how will the others regard that? You'll have the same problem that did for the Nexus range.Sony need a phone division to make their mobile testbeds, in effect. That's also why they need several models at different levels. They also need user feedback.It doesn't matter if they lose some money on phones so long as the other divisions make more on profit. But without their phone range, they will rapidly lose their development edge elsewhere.

Also, selling too many phones also threatens some potential customers. They need to sell enough to get the user feedback and amortise development costs.

Has anyone said I wish my phone had a higher aspect ratio? Anyone? Is this just spemanship becuse phone screens are measured on the diagonal so you can make the screen number larger without going wider by making it taller.

Also no Android One = no sale. I mean honestly the terms of Android One really aren't that great they are the minimum acceptable product. Saying you aren't going with Android One means you are selling $800+ throwaway phones.

Modern phones are taller than the older ones. This is easily their most distinctive feature. Sony seems to want to capitalize on this by making their phone even taller than the rest.

Is this one of those kindergarten experiments -- which glass holds more water?

There is if you're considering buying the phone but want to be able to unlock the bootloader.

Quote:

because sales are not high enough to create a demand for custom installs.

And yet, some phones have unlockable bootloaders, whether there's a demand for them or not.

A quick search shows that as it happens, Sony has a page called Unlock Bootloader. It cautions that this may void your warranty or have other negative effects, but then describes how to do it. It also has a page called Supported Devices that lists phones that can run custom firmware. The new models aren't listed as yet, but the XZ3 is. So it's probably worth keeping an eye on that page once the new phones come out.

In conclusion: If you don't know the answer to somebody's question, don't respond by telling them that there's no point in asking the question. Either spend a few minutes on finding out the answer, or keep your fool mouth shut.

I'm surprised Sony hasn't packed it's phone business in yet, how much money do they have to lose before they say enough is enough.

Even many Chinese firms are struggling in the mobile space like Lenovo/Motorola, ZTE and TCL/Alcatel/Palm/Blackberry (hmm maybe TCL will buy Sony's phone business they bought all the other failed ones).

I'm not.Other divisions of Sony make cameras and audio parts that are sold to other manufacturers.

Think about the problem of R&D. To test new parts thoroughly you need phones to tune them on which need to be state of the art. Samsung does...If you work with one manufacturer, how will the others regard that? You'll have the same problem that did for the Nexus range.Sony need a phone division to make their mobile testbeds, in effect. That's also why they need several models at different levels. They also need user feedback.It doesn't matter if they lose some money on phones so long as the other divisions make more on profit. But without their phone range, they will rapidly lose their development edge elsewhere.

Also, selling too many phones also threatens some potential customers. They need to sell enough to get the user feedback and amortise development costs.

People should expect pillarboxing, not letterboxing, on 16:9 content viewed on a 21:9 screen. Letter boxing is vertical sacking to fit a wider image, leaving black bars above and below, Pillarboxing is having a full-height image that isn’t wide enough to fill the screen with black bars to the sides, and windowboxing is when an image is surrounded on all sides due to not filling either dimension.

Can't we just get the XZ1 compact with updated hardware? I need a mobile phone that can be used with one hand for more than 3 seconds. When I decide that I need a stick I'll get a stick not an ultra tall phone.

Also, do people really spend that much time watching video on their phones? I think I've done it for grand total of 30 min during the last decade.

Agreed. I have the XZ1 Compact now, and had the Z5 Compact before that. It seems those of us who want a smaller phone are fighting a losing battle. Perhaps if Sony focused on the compact phones, which so far they've built pretty well, they could really differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack.

As a former iPhone SE owner, the issue is that the software support for smaller screens is not really there anymore, so rather than make phones that are impossible to use with a lot of apps, the only viable solution for manufacturers is just to give up on the small sizes. It sucks, no doubt, but reality is that small phones don’t sell as well anymore.

Great! We need more choices of smartphones, and we need them now! Preferably expensive. And with a predetermined lifespan dependent on battery life. In fact, I can't wait for the day when we all carry around three different phones. If only we humans had threes sets of eyes and three sets of arms, we could triple our interactions with smartphones.